The Other Side of Kelly Ripa

KC: Well, with a first child, some people want the name to have a lot of significance and family meaning....KR: No, with your first son, you name him Michael. Know how I know? When I go to the playground and I say "Michael, it's time to go," 78 children come running at me. Everyone names their firstborn Michael. It's the law.

KC: You named your daughter Lola, which isn't exactly run-of-the-mill.KR: And Michael was supposed to be named Joaquin. Mark and I love to go ethnic. With a last name like Consuelos, you can. But I grew up with the name Kelly, which rhymes with smelly. And I'm still obsessive about my personal hygiene, because I'm like, "I don't want to smell!" Because the kids used to call me Smelly Kelly, even though I wasn't. Names can do things to you. So we were really thinking about Joaquin Consuelos, very ethnic, very manly; we liked it. And then both of Mark's grandfathers passed away a month before Michael was born, so we named him Michael Joseph; those were their names. But with Lola, I mean, we just knew she was going to be a little showgirl.

KC: Is that turning out to be true? What's her personality like?KR: Here's the latest picture of her. Isn't she yummy? And she's huge. She's Big Lola. Michael had one of his little friends over, but this friend is actually not so little. This boy is Michael's age, but he's my size. I'm not kidding, I could wear his sweatshirt. And the boys were pushing Lola around. She was trying to get her bath toys, and anything she touched they ripped out of her hand while pushing her away. So she came up behind them both and grabbed them by the back of their necks and knocked the two of them onto the ground. Both of these boys started crying. Bawling, actually. While Lola just stood there and went back to her toys.

KC: Good for her. She stands up for herself.KR: Well, I think she just knew she had to live up to her name. And she really does. I mean, both of my kids have great personalities.

KC: I still love the story of Michael screaming "Please don't hurt me, lady!" when you tried to scold him in public for misbehaving.KR: Actually, I believe what he hollered was "I am being kidnapped! Somebody help me!" And I'm thinking, Oh, no, somebody help me. Please, arrest me, take me away from these ungrateful children. [Laughs]

KC: The last time we spoke, you said you were happy with the age gap between Michael and Lola, and you'd wait awhile before having a third. Doesn't look like it worked out that way.KR: All right, here's what happened. Mark and I were talking about trying, because we had tried for almost three years to get pregnant with Lola after Michael. So Mark gets this movie in Australia, and he's going away for almost five months, and I'm thinking, We should at least try, once, before you go. See if we can remember how to do it, you know?

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